Any help appreciated re my 2000 Professional Dial up which has gone mad. I could connect to my server at first, but now I just get the message 'Unable to establish a connection'. I've tested the modem, its ok, I am able to connect to the web via Dellnet (dell's server) but can't go to a website as I get the message 'cannot find server' though I can get email with OE5. Dellnet's usually fine... I was away for a few months, and came back to find my PC acting like this. I'm unable to download the latest anti-virus, as can't get on the web...I suspect its a virus. Any suggestions? I'm usually able to connect via other servers, why would they all stop working, except Dellnet,which won't go to a site? I didn't change any settings, so why would it go off all of a sudden... I'd like to download Norton, and put it on my PC, but I'm not sure how to do this. I thought, maybe I could put it on a Zip drive, downloading off another PC, but I'm not sure how this is done.. Any suggestions? Thanks Tony

Check your proxy settings in Internet Explorer, that would cause this issue. You will have to confirm with your ISP as to what the settings should be set for, but if they are misconfigured you will get that error. Also disable/uninstall any firewall software. that can also block your access. oh, and call your ISP.

Also, try making sure your "DNS Client Services" is turned-off in the Management Console. For some reason my Win2K pro box couldn't get online and I had turned on that service while testing something ... I could not get onto any webpage, my proxy settings were just fine, but I was not getting ANY DNS resolution. I could access a site by FTP by IP# fine, but just no domain names. When I disabled my local DNS Client Resolution Service, my computer started referring to my ISP's DNS instead of my then-empty table on my computer. See if that helps you, disable your DNS client in Services, because that really threw me ... hehe --ProphetPX

Thanks for the info... I remembered that this happened before, 2000 chopped off half of my username in Preferences. I typed in the correct user name, and it worked. Quite why 2k does this, and changes my LAN settings, whenever it feels like it, is beyond me. But I'm on the net now. Though I have virus problems to deal with. thanks for the tips